Children's Books discussion

Join us to discuss this award winner:

Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

(btw, my 24 year old son is helping me set up these threads, and he comments that this hasn't aged too well, and is somewhat sexist, as in, it reflects the setting... he advises that we read it as if it's historical fiction... but he liked it enough to read it three times)

Also any or both of these lauded books:

Ramona and Her Father by Beverly Cleary
Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey by Jamake Highwater

Note that the "American Indian" story is extremely problematic. From Wikipedia: "Jamake Highwater, born as Jackie Marks, and also known as Jay or J Marks, was an American writer and journalist of eastern European Jewish ancestry. From the late 1960s he claimed to be of Native American ancestry, specifically Cherokee. In that period, he published extensively under the name of Jamake Highwater." There's lots more about his exploitive con easily found. I will skip the book.

I need to see if I still own a copy. I think the last time I read it was a decade ago. I adored it! I first fell in love with it way back in my childhood of the late 80's when it was made into a made for tv movie. I've watched snippets of it on you tube and it looks like it would probably not appeal to today's audience. I should rent the one that came out a few years ago that starred the little girl from Because of Winn Dixie. Paterson is a fabulous author and I highly recommend checking out the book The Great Gilly Hopkins. I just watched the movie for the first time the other day. Had a lot of well known actors in it, but it wasn't nearly as good as the book in my opinion.

I remember the scene that stuck out to me the most was when the main girl told her teacher she didn't have a tv and the whole class rudely laughed at her. I couldn't make up my mind, and still can't, if that was stupid for her to do or just courageous. My mom went through a brief phase of unplugging our tv when I was in grade school, and you'd better believe I did my best to keep that a secret from my peers!!

I read it in elementary school and the ending traumatized me so much I won't watch the movie. This one has been on the banned/challenged list for weird and sometimes unknown reasons.
http://www.bannedlibrary.com/podcast/...

Oops, that's what I get for not locking the thread! Love the comments, thank you, but note that they're a bit premature....

Ok, thread is open again!
I think I'm going to read Ramona and Her Father tonight. I need a comfort read....

Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

I did NOT like this book when I read it in elementary school and refused to watch the movie or revist the book. (view spoiler)[Doesn't a child die in the end? (hide spoiler)]

Ramona and Her Father on the other hand, is wonderful and gave me warm fuzzies and brought back SO many memories. Beverly Cleary was one in a million. Good choice for a comfort read.

About the writer of Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey. I don't know this writer but perhaps there's a reasonable explanation. I recently saw an episode of the TV series "Finding Your Roots" in which actress/director Rebecca Hall explores her ancestry. Her mother's father claimed he was Native America and gave demonstrations and talks across the country. Her mother thought perhaps they were of African heritage but she wasn't sure. Spoiler alert for the episode (view spoiler)[Her mother WAS Black/bicracial. Grandfather's first wife was Sioux and they lived on the reservation. He felt culturally at home there. After his wife passed, he was forced to leave the reservation. At a time of extreme racial prejudice, he passed for "Indian" which was actually more acceptable than Black. His descendants present and idendify as White. (hide spoiler)]

Oh, yes, Cleary helped me sleep last night!
Ramona and Her Father is just as delightful as I remembered, but also deeply moving. Ramona and Beezus's worries are genuine. And so is the father's frustrations, and the mother's fatigue. And it reveals that people are complicated - at the same time Ramona is worried about her bedroom being torn down because it's not paid for yet, she's fretting about not having the right costume for the pageant.

I am absolutely glad that it was recognized by the Newbery Committee.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Oh, yes, Cleary helped me sleep last night!
Ramona and Her Father is just as delightful as I remembered, but also deeply moving. Ramona and Beezus's worries are genuine. And so is th..."

Which illustrator did you have and what did you think of the illustrations? I like Jacqueline Rogers the best.

My thoughts copied from the Beverly Cleary thread

I had remembered this one being my least favorite of all, Probably because it's heavier and Ramona's problems are more adult. Possibly also I didn't like her father's smoking plot.

As an adult I appreciate this book A LOT more and can relate to Ramona's concerns. Beezus and Ramona really bond for the first time, taking an interest in adult conversation and worrying about the family. It's very sad that Ramona fears her parents are discussing HER and she wonders what SHE has done to make her parents whisper. She's frightened and her emotions are very real.

Ramona has matured enough to cross out the bizarre items she has on her Christmas wish list because money is tight after Mr. Quimby loses his job. She understands completely that her mom's paycheck can't stretch to the level of two paychecks even if one was part-time. Ramona has very grown-up worries and her fears when her dad is late are very heart-rending and realistic.
She also recognizes how special her parents are in allowing their children to play and be creative, to be who they are at home and that is a very special thing indeed.

Mr. Quimby losing his job and the family needing income is something many kids even today can relate to. I was fortunate that I never had to worry about that but I do remember standing by the door in my bedroom with my siblings listening to the grown-ups arguing. We worried about divorce and what would happen to us. Like Beezus, I'm the big sister and had to be brave and reassure my siblings.

The smoking plot is not dated. I've met kids who REEKED of cigarette smoke (and another type of noxious weed smell). In Junior High I remember a friend flushing her mom's cigarettes down the toilet. I'm sure I was spurred by Ramona to help her think of ways to get her mom to give up cigarettes. I didn't like how cranky Ramona's dad was and I think it scared me a little as a kid but as an adult I understand a little better.

Even though the tone of this book is darker, there are still light moments like Picky Picky living up to his name and refusing the cheaper brand of cat food. Picky Picky and the jack o'lantern is too funny and too awful! I'd cry too! The sheep costume drama is cute although Ramona's drama in not having the right costume is a bit over-the-top.

There are only small details that are dated, like Dad having to wait by the phone in case someone calls him about a job! And Dad having to stand in line for unemployment. Today we have cell phones and direct deposit. There's a brief mention of a ditto machine and those things lasted until the 90s in some old schools. The only cringeworthy moment is when the Three Wise People put brown makeup tan cream on their faces for the nativity play.

Beverly Cleary had a real knack for understanding the minds of young children and rereading this series brings it all back!

I agree that mostly this book holds up pretty well. You point out a few details, but certainly the tone and the kinds of worries the kids have and the relationships are all still relevant to kids today.

I had the illustrations by Tracy Dockray this time. I think they're likely to help it be 'fresh' for this generation of readers, and I didn't have a problem with them. I agree that Rogers is great. I grew up with Louis Darling and always wish I could see more of his work.

As we discussed in the Cleary thread, the book that compares the different illustrators is wonderful. I hope every fan gets a chance to look at The Art of Ramona Quimby: Sixty-Five Years of Illustrations from Beverly Cleary’s Beloved Books.

I re-read the entire series leading up to this one and I find I like Ramona better as she matures.
When Ramona, and eventually the whole family, worry about her father's smoking it really hit home for me, since I spent a lot of time in my childhood harassing my Mom for smoking. From what they told us in school she was sure to die of lung cancer. I regret all of it, especially since she died fairly young of something completely unrelated.

I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm sure part of her was glad that you cared enough to harass her, though.

I wonder if the Qumby characters influenced anyone to avoid starting to smoke, or to stop.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote:
I wonder if the Qumby characters influenced anyone to avoid starting to smoke, or to stop."

Chelsea Clinton tweeted that this book influenced her to urge her grandmother to stop smoking and she did!
"Holding Beverly Cleary's family and loved ones in my heart. Ramona brought me so much joy as a child and inspired me to ask my Grandma Ginger to quit smoking for my 8th birthday (she did!). Have loved sharing her books with my children."

There were a lot of wonderful stories posted online when Beverly Cleary died.

I don't really get the appeal of BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA. For me, a bit lackluster. But someday I'll read it again, this time in English. (I read the transl. into Portuguese years ago; the book is a success in Brazilian schools.)

Terabithia is one of the very few pre-1980s Newbery books that still appeals to a significant number of children. The only other ones from the 70s that work with most modern students are Roll of Thunder and Frog and Toad.

Phil wrote: "Terabithia is one of the very few pre-1980s Newbery books that still appeals to a significant number of children. "

There was a movie made in 2007 so that makes sense that it's still popular.

It also really *feels* contemporary.

I don't know why it didn't move me.

Bridge to Terabithia is an amazing book. It is about many, many things. It is about friendship and understanding people who are different than you are. It is about imagination. It is about grief.

It also addresses certain issues, such as body-shaming and gender roles in an honest way. I am surprised that anyone would call this book "sexist" when some of the tension comes from a boy wanting to do things that his community sees as not traditionally masculine.

The appeal in this book is very strong for me, and I don't understand why other people don't see it.

The movie from 2007 and the movie from the '80s are both good.

Paterson wrote this book after her son's friend died (hit by lightning) and he consulted on the 2007 movie.

The 2007 movie probably helps, but I have to point out that there was a Wrinkle in Time movie in 2018 and I still can't get children to pick that book up. 2007 was 15 years ago, so I think it's more than just the movie.

Yes. I can understand the book's appeal, that was not well put by my part, but if we think BT is one of the most celebrated American books for children, read in thousands of languages by millions of children, I can't help but feeling disappointed by what I've read. It simpy didn't feel special, but it's important to mention again that I didn't read it in English.

Such comparisons are silly, but SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL has more life/pain/energy in a chapter than the whole BT. A staggering work of beauty. Couldn't see anything of that sort in BT.

I'll definitely give it another go. I'll read more of her books also.

Guilherme wrote: "
I'll definitely give it another go. I'll read more of her books also."

YES to Sarah, Plain and Tall. One of my childhood favorites, featured on Reading Rainbow, I believe. Katherine Paterson was NOT a childhood favorite. Her books are not that memorable. I know I read Lyddie as a child. When I started working at a mill museum, a friend encouraged me to read it. I STILL don't remember anything about it. Don't remember anything about BT either except the trauma I felt when (view spoiler)[Leslie died. (hide spoiler)].

It's my dream to publish SP&T in Brazil. I'm confident it'll happen one day.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "Join us to discuss this award winner:

Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

(btw, my 24 year old son is helping me set up these threads, and he comments that this..."

It is bad enough when non Native American writers pen exploitative books with “Native” thematics but it is much worse when someone actually pretends to be Native American. I do not know if I am going to skip Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey but if I do not, then it is only to use my pen as a sword of anger.

I decided to post a review for Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey even though I only very cursively skimmed parts of it. Because let's face it, there are way too many cases of non Native American authors pretending to be Native American that books like Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey need to be reviewed and soundly condemned.

To tell the truth, the only reason I even considered reading Jamake Highwater's 1977 Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey is because it was awarded a Newbery Honour designation in 1978 (as the book title's choice of wording feels more than a trifle suspicious to me, and I am indeed left wondering whether Highwater is with Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey in fact taking Homer's Odyssey and transferring it into a Native American story, something that has turned out to indeed be pretty much the truth of the matter, something that I would probably also not have had any major reading problems with as a child, when Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey was originally published, but a scenario that as an older adult and as such also a much more critical reader I would today most definitely not at all consider culturally appropriate and would in fact label as appropriation and at best a trifle problematic).

But since we are reading Anpao: an American Indian Odyssey in the Newbery Club (for the 1978 accolades) and since I was able to download Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey from Open Library, I decided to at least skim through Jamake Highwater's presented text and to see if Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey would have appealed to me theme and content wise as an eleven year old, in 1977 (in the year that Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey was published). And yes, at least partially, the storyline Highwater presents is sufficiently readable and the allusions to Homer's Odyssey tolerable and even at times a bit interesting (and clear enough that I probably would have found this fun in 1977 since I had just read a children's version of Homer's Odyssey in German).

However, I was also not all that majorly enjoying Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey, and yes, when I took a reading break to google Jamake Highwater's name online, not only was I (and remain) totally shocked and hugely hugely infuriated by the fact that Jamake Highwater seems to have pretended to be Native American, seems to have simply taken a Native American sounding name and written Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey as supposedly emanating from a Native American pen, I also (and in my opinion with total justification) decided to not bother finishing Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey and to without any feelings of contrition or guilt be ranking this culturally inappropriate pack of lies (and written by a make-believe Native American "author") with only one star. And really, since Jamake Highwater wrote Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey under false flags so to speak, not only using Homer's Odyssey to portray Native American life and culture, but even worse pretending to be Native American, in my humble opinion, I actually do kind of think that the Newbery Honour Award Jamake Highwater received for Anpao: An American Indian Odyssey should be stripped from this book, should be taken away from Highwater (or from his estate).

Ramona and Her Father

(view spoiler)[While I have generally very much enjoyed Ramona and her Father and think that author Beverly Clearly has painted and portrayed not only an enjoyably humorous, but also very much realistic portrait of middle class American childhood (not dwelling on the negatives, but at the same time, also not shying away from potential problems and issues, such as the trials and tribulations faced by the Quimby family when the father loses his job), I do tend to feel that the ending of Ramona and Her Father is a bit rushed and incomplete (since to and for me, Cleary simply stopping the novel with Ramona's sheep performance has left me, and potentially also leaves readers, rather hanging a bit). Now the rather abrupt and rushed ending does really make me want to read the rest of the Ramona series, so perhaps this is actually an interesting and cleverly deliberate narrative tool. But that being said, if I had actually read Ramona and her Father when I was a child, when it first came out in 1977 (which I did not, as I unfortunately only really discovered Beverly Cleary’s children’s novels as an older adult reader), I would more than likely have been rather majorly annoyed at and frustrated by the abrupt and unfinished cliffhanger type of ending, and especially at probably having to wait before the next book about Ramona Quimby and her family was published (I am not the most patient person, never have been, never will be, and have also never enjoyed open ended stories all that much either, both then and now).

Now what I actually do find really and personally very sadly and massively problematic and infuriating with regard to some of the online musings about Ramona and her Father I have read, is the unfortunate fact that more than a few reviewers actually seem to be majorly faulting and even condemning that smoking is featured and depicted in Ramona and her Father. Yes, I do know and yes appreciate that everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. However, Ramona and Her Father was written at a time when smoking (in 1977) was not yet seen either as all that generally negative or even as a probably lethal habit. Secondly, and for me even more importantly, smoking is actually NOT AT ALL glamourized by Beverly Cleary in Ramona and her Father. For it is soundly and continuously criticised (as unhealthy, too expensive, that it can start fires and so and so on and so on) and both Beezus and Ramona are indeed constantly at their father to quit smoking. And therefore, I personally really do NOT understand the negativity in the reviews that take issue with the fact that smoking is featured (for if in Ramona and Her Father smoking were portrayed as something glamorous and grown up, then perhaps I could more understand the negativity, but that is not ever the case in Ramona and her Father, since smoking is continuously shown and portrayed as a bad, unhealthy and potentially dangerous habit, as well as very expensive, especially considering that Ramona's father has just lost his job). And indeed, the only very minor annoyance for me is that when Beezus and Ramona talk back to their father, solidly and uncompromisingly take their father to task with regard to his smoking in Ramona and her Father, the mother does not interfere when he verbally chastises and rather viciously berates his daughters (yes, Mr. Quimby does later admit to Ramona that she is right about how his smoking is a bad and unhealthy habit, but in my humble opinion, the mother really should have defended her daughters, and not just remained silent, and with that silence, also quite enabling and condoning). (hide spoiler)]

Not sure if I actually want to revisit Bridge to Terabithia, as I found the book majorly traumatic when I read it in 1978.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Bridge To Terabithia by Katherine Paterson

I did NOT like this book when I read it in elementary school and refused to watch the movie or revist the book. [spoilers rem..."

I did check on Jamake Highwater online. And from what I was reading, he mostly decided to reinvent himself as being an ultimately FAKE Native American in order to further his own writing career and to obtain grants meant for actual and bona fide Native American authors. And this is extremely low, low, low and unforgivable.

My 10yo finished Bridge this morning. Her response was "It was good!" (jumps up and down) "It was sad!" (begins crying)

Phil wrote: "My 10yo finished Bridge this morning. Her response was "It was good!" (jumps up and down) "It was sad!" (begins crying)"

That was a great review! Thank you Miss 10 year old!

I have always been a fan of Paterson and look forward to rereading Bridge to Terabithia.

I agree that Sarah Plain and Tall is an amazing story, too. Very very different, of course.

I get more out of Bridge To Terabithia every time I read it. I'm curious about the movies, but I just don't think that they could do Paterson's language justice. And the edition that I read, well, the kids don't look right at all... it's important that Leslie look androgynous, but not quirky. And Jess would be very lean and sunburnt, nothing soft about him.

I agree with my son that it's easier to read as historical fiction. Julia Edmunds is a "hippie" and a "peacenik" "even though the Vietnam War was over and it was supposed to OK again to like peace." I'm not sure how many kids today would have the background knowledge to parse that.

And I love that it's told in third person, but that the voice is very much that of Jess. It seems that far too much juvenile fiction is told by an extremely long-winded child with an amazing memory, and that too many of those protagonists don't even sound like children. I mean, they observe, understand, and report *everything* to the reader... stuff they couldn't irl understand.

Jess does have some insights, but he develops the ability to make them as we read. For example, "Sometimes like the Barbie doll [special effort gift for little sister] you need to give people something that's for them, not just something that makes you feel good giving it."

Do today's kids understand this bit?

"When parents were poor or ignorant or mean, or even just didn't believe in having a TV set, it was up to their kids to protect them."

I do admit that I don't like how unrelenting evil Jess' older sisters are, and I don't understand his mother at all.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "I do admit that I don't like how unrelenting evil Jess' older sisters are, and I don't understand his mother at all."

It's been a while, but I recall thinking that Jess was seen as being insufficiently masculine by some of his family members and that his mother was overwhelmed by running a farm and caring for a large number of children.

Cheryl is busier irl atm. wrote: "I get more out of Bridge To Terabithia every time I read it. I'm curious about the movies, but I just don't think that they could do Paterson's language justice. And the edition that..."

If you're into Patersen, then I recommend having a look af her autobiography. In it, she explains that Bridge was written after her son's best friend was killed by lightning. Her son went on to be heavily involved in the most recent movie adaptation.

The movie is pretty good. It's not as good as the book, but it's good in its own way. I think they softened some of the bullying and language.

Thanks, Phil!

Yes, the mother was def. overwhelmed, and, yes, Jess's art was seen as not quite proper. But something about the way the older girls got what they whined for bothered me.

Oh, I have an idea. Maybe she saw her lost youth in them... she remembered wanting stockings and new notebooks when she was in high school....

I will add Stories of My Life to my lists.

I just watched one of the Bridge to Terabithia movies this evening, the one starring Josh Hutcherson as Jess Aarons. I really enjoyed it. One thing that I really liked was how Jess and Leslie's imaginative play in "Terabithia" is brought to life by the movie makers by animating the creatures and battles that the two imagine. That helped me to visualize their imaginative play. This version was a Disney film, and I liked it much better than the earlier version, which left out too much and was too short.

I saw the 80s one when it came out, and I remember liking it.

I got this off imdb:

"David Paterson, who was the real-life inspiration for the character of Jess Aarons, the son of Katherine Paterson (author of the original book), and producer and screenwriter for the remake Bridge to Terabithia (2007), referred to this version as being "like the crazy cousin that nobody talks about" and went on to say that "no one on our side was either involved with it or happy with the final product"."

Bridge To Terabithia

I do know and realise that Katherine Paterson won the 1978 Newbery Award for her 1977 middle grade novel Bridge to Terabithia, that it is considered both a classic of American children's literature and is for many seemingly also a cherished childhood favourite (and a novel which shows that friendship between boy and girl is not only possible but can also be textually rendered without any hints of sexuality).

However, and that being said, when I had to read Bridge to Terabithia in 1978 (for grade six English), while I did find Katherine Paterson's depictions of Jesse and Leslie's developing friendship sweet and satisfying, I also still today very vividly do recall absolutely despising and often really wanting to scream about much of Paterson's presented text and many of the themes and contents encountered in Bridge to Terabithia and this primarily and especially because of the frequent instances of pretty horrible verbal abuse, such as the constant fat shaming comments and jokes, and which unfortunately my sixth grade teacher also tried to repeatedly use on me (according to her philosophy to "toughen" me up and to supposedly inspire me to try to go on a strict diet when she realised how much this was textually bothering me, since I had major body weight issues as a tween and a teenager and that of course I textually noticed these while we were reading Bridge to Terabithia in class), something for which I of course will not and cannot actually blame blame at Katherine Paterson. But certainly, the fat shaming scenarios and comments present in The Bridge to Terabithia and that my teacher was rather using this as a verbal attacking tool towards me and my body weight, this naturally did not at all endear me to Bridge to Terabithia and to make me in any way enjoy Katherine Paterson's narrative all that much (and sorry, while reading Bridge to Terabithia in 2022 has in fact calmed down some of the reading outrage I felt in 1978, I still really do find the fat jokes a major source of discomfort and one that also will not go away and which I also do not want to go away).

And furthermore, when we read Bridge to Terabithia in 1978, for me personally, Leslie Burke's death was not only a totally traumatic reading experience that felt almost ridiculously senseless and gratuitous to and for my twelve year old self but that Bridge to Terbithia also left me with recurring nightmares and the fear of drowning (which no one really took seriously), and that yes, trying to reread Bridge to Terabithia in 2022 has brought back those same feelings and fears and equally my frustrated childhood anger at how my teachers used the fat shaming aspects of Bridge to Terabithia against. And while as an adult, I absolutely understand and appreciate why and how Katherine Paterson won the Newbery Award for Bridge to Terabithia, my inner child (and my memories), they still really do rather despise too much of Bridge to Terabithia for me to conssider more than a two star rating.

I have not seen the film. And I do think that my perosnal reading reaction to how my teachers used the fat jokes against me shows that teachers's behaviours can really traumatise and also wreck a student's reading pleasure on a permanent basis.

I don't remember either of the films having any fat-shaming jokes; if so, they were so few that I missed them. There is some bullying, especially in the 2007 version, where two 8th grade girls bar the girl's restroom door and demand a dollar for anyone wishing to go inside. (I couldn't understand the teachers and principal not putting an immediate halt to this extortion racket!) Mostly the films focus on the friendship between Jess and Leslie.

Beverly wrote: "I don't remember either of the films having any fat-shaming jokes; if so, they were so few that I missed them. There is some bullying, especially in the 2007 version, where two 8th grade girls bar ..."

I have not watched the movies but when reading Bridge to Terabithia at the age of twelve, the jokes etc. about body weight did bother me quite a lot.

My brother and I tried to get our uncle to stop smoking by throwing his cigarettes into the swimming pool, with little luck! And sadly, there is still far more of an acceptance of smoking in both the UK and continental Europe, and oh so many of my aunts and uncles in Germany, they basically smoked themselves to death and were still smoking even when dying of smoking related illnesses.

Manybooks wrote: "Bridge To Terabithia

I do know and realise that Katherine Paterson won the 1978 Newbery Award for her 1977 middle grade novel Bridge to Terabithia, that it is considered both a class..."

That's absolutely horrible, and I think it's safe to say that your teacher missed the point of the book, which has a lot to do with tolerance and understanding.

The fat jokes are prominent in the book, but absent from the movies. That's actually one of the complaints I have against the movies. I think the "jokes" in the book are so cruel that no reasonable person could find them funny. The inclusion of body-shaming drives home the point that people are hurting each other and creating cycles of negative behavior. It was unusual for a book from that era to present this issue the way Patersen did. Obviously, your teacher missed the point, which is shocking.

Phil wrote: "Manybooks wrote: "Bridge To Terabithia

I do know and realise that Katherine Paterson won the 1978 Newbery Award for her 1977 middle grade novel Bridge to Terabithia, that it is consi..."

I think one of the problems for me was that in 1978, I had only been speaking English for less than two years and was also very self conscious about me weight. And while I absolutely do not blame Katherine Paterson for my experiences with Bridge to Terabithia, they certainly did not make me enjoy the book.

I finished my re-read of Bridge to Terabithia last night, with tears in my eyes and choking up a little bit. Paterson did a great job in her writing to evoke such emotion in the reader.

I read Bridge to Terabithia when I was about 9 or 10 (soon after it came out) and aloud to my then 10 year old son a couple of years ago (by was that hard!). I had remembered what happened to Leslie, the friendship between Leslie and Jess and their play in Terabithia quite vividly and wanted my son to experience it. He said it was horribly sad, but he liked the story. I should ask him what he remembers of it.

I agree with Phil that the bullying and fat-shaming, etc. was there to shine a light on this type of behavior as NOT OK. I’m sorry, @Manybooks, that your teacher used it instead against you. That was not right.

I might try to find the more recent movie.

DivaDiane wrote: "I read Bridge to Terabithia when I was about 9 or 10 (soon after it came out) and aloud to my then 10 year old son a couple of years ago (by was that hard!). I had remembered what happened to Lesli..."

It really made me not like the book and still makes me only able to appreciate but not enjoy Bridge to Terabithia without reservations. And I actually even after all this time really despise my teacher for this.